If you have $50,000 available in today's economy, you'll want to be more judicious with where you keep it than you may have normally been. With inflation surging, pay lagging and higher interest rates continuing to keep borrowing costs elevated, you'll want to keep this money in an account that will both protect the principal and grow the interest competitively. And few account types can effectively do both, at least not as well as a certificate of deposit (CD) account can right now.

CD interest rates are around 4% or higher right now. Those rates are fixed and will hold through the account's maturity date. And the account is FDIC-insured up to $250,000, giving you five times the protection you'll need with a $50,000 deposit. Because rates are so high, too, the returns you can expect with a five-figure CD account will be substantial. That return is simple to calculate with precision as well, thanks to that fixed rate.

So, how much interest can a $50,000 CD account actually earn if opened right now? Below, we'll crunch the numbers that savers will want to know before getting started.

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How much interest can a $50,000 CD account earn if opened now?

With a $50,000 CD account, savers will easily be able to earn hundreds of dollars worth of interest and potentially thousands. Here's what the returns will look like, calculated against eight different terms, the top rates associated with each and the assumption that no fees or penalties are levied against the account:

• $50,000 3-month CD at 3.95%: $486.60 upon maturity
• $50,000 6-month CD at 4.10%: $1,014.70 upon maturity
• $50,000 9-month CD at 4.00%: $1,492.60 upon maturity
• $50,000 1-year CD at 4.15%: $2,075.00 upon maturity
• $50,000 18-month CD at 4.20%: $3,182.85 upon maturity
• $50,000 2-year CD at 4.16%: $4,246.53 upon maturity
• $50,000 3-year CD at 4.15%: $6,486.91 upon maturity
• $50,000 5-year CD at 4.20%: $11,419.83 upon maturity

Savers can earn close to $500 with a CD account of this size by September, then, and more than $11,000 if they keep the funds locked away for the next five years, or somewhere in between both amounts, depending on how long they want to keep their funds frozen. 

Just be sure to calculate your earnings before getting started and understand your own limits, as you'll need to keep the money untouched to earn these big returns. Withdrawing it early from any of the accounts outlined above could result in a penalty worth most or even all of the interest earned to that date.

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Is a $50,000 high-yield savings or money market account better this June?

If you can't or don't want to sacrifice access to your money, it may be worth putting your $50,000 into a high-yield savings or money market account instead. Both account types come with interest rates competitive with the top CDs and there will be no withdrawal penalties to contend with. Money market accounts even come with check-writing features that can help streamline your banking needs. 

That all noted, both also come with variable interest rates that will rise or fall based on market conditions. But with higher interest rates expected to hold for the foreseeable future, this may not be the detriment it would have been in a different interest rate climate. Consider both carefully, then, as either can suffice as a viable CD account alternative or even as part of a mix of accounts to spread your $50,000 among.

The bottom line

A $50,000 CD account can earn savers anywhere from $487 to $11,420 now, approximately. But the returns are just part of the equation, as that $50,000 principal will be protected and insured, too. That said, in today's elevated rate environment, high-yield savings and money market accounts can also be worth careful consideration. Just be sure to keep any funds in a traditional savings account minimal as the average rate there as of a June update from the FDIC sits at just 0.38%, making all three of the accounts outlined above exponentially more profitable.